Christian Bale, Amy Adams d/ David Russell
A confused film roughly based on the abscam scandal of the 70's. At times farcical, threatening, character study, menacing gangster thriller, bureaucratic nightmare...it never really coalesced into a coherent whole.
Three of the main players were excellent - CB, AA, and Jeremy Renner; one was poor - Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence was...well, second rate Mia Farrow a la Broadway Danny Rose. Robert di Niro turned in a nice scene as a scary mafia thug. Poor Amy Adams had to appear in every scene in dresses slit to her waist...I felt sorry for her.
It's very difficult to merge the various tones used here and again Russell shows he's not up to the task. He seems to be someone who's watched a lot of movies...picks up on types and much-used tropes but has no experience with real life. Too much of this was cartoonish, movie reality...why should we care about some toons? You can't hurt them. No matter what you do to them they bounce right back.
Overall a mixed bag.
5
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